Helen Thomas

Let's keep religion out of the presidential election campaign. Or is it too late?

Not since 1960 when John F. Kennedy's Catholicism was a big issue has religion played such a prominent role in a national election.

Kennedy confronted the issue head-on when he appeared before the Presbyterian Convention in Houston during the campaign and assured the ministers that he would not be taking orders from the Vatican if he were elected.

Last Friday, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops gave priests the option of denying communion to any politician who supports abortion rights. The bishops issued a statement declaring that lawmakers who support abortion rights are "cooperating in evil."

The bishops' policy affects Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a Catholic and former altar boy who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Kerry has sought to make it clear that he is a secular politician who doesn't want to be viewed through a religious prism.

"I am not a spokesperson for the church and the church is not a spokesperson for the United States of America," he said recently. "I'm running for president and I'm running to uphold the Constitution which has a strict separation of church and state."

The divisive question of the role of church and state in public life rose again at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan when his son, Ron Reagan, took a sharp dig at President Bush.

Reagan's comments came during the burial ceremony at the Reagan Library in Ventura, Calif., following a long day of eulogies for the late president during which Bush had described Reagan as a religious man.

While his father was "deeply and unabashedly religious," his son said, "he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians -- wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage."

Ron Reagan admitted that after the 1981 assassination attempt on the president, his father began to believe his life was spared for a purpose.

"But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate," said Reagan. "And there is a profound each dropping their first game. difference."

Asked later if his remarks were intended to be critical of Bush, Reagan said: "If the shoe fits."

Bush has reportedly sought political support from the Vatican for his opposition to gay marriage, according to the National Catholic Reporter newspaper. The president appealed to Vatican officials on his trip to Rome earlier this month "to encourage American bishops to take a more active role in promoting their shared social agenda," particularly against gay marriage, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper said Bush had made the request to Cardinal Angelo Soldano, the Vatican's secretary of state, "for the Vatican's help in encouraging them to be more outspoken."

Such activities could run afoul of the church's tax-free status that bars participation in political affairs.

The Bush campaign also is working to cultivate some Protestant groups, particularly Southern Baptists.

A born-again Christian who has placed a religious imprimatur on many aspects of his public life, Bush sometimes gives the impression that he is on a Messianic mission.

When Bob Woodward, the Washington Post writer, asked Bush if he ever sought the advice of his father, President George H.W. Bush, the younger Bush replied, "There's a higher father I look to."

Bush has gone farther in pushing religion than his predecessors by creating a "faith-based" office in the White House. The office is devoted to funneling federal funds to religious charities in competition with traditional government-sponsored social programs.

Bible classes are held weekly in the White House compound. Bush supports the Christian right's policies on such issues as abortion, gay marriages, the withholding of funds from international family planning groups and stem cell research.

Bush was raised in an Episcopalian household and became a Methodist when he married Laura. But his religious fervor grew the guidance of the Rev. Billy Graham and conservative friends who helped him stop drinking.

It will be a sorry state if the voters have to decide which candidate is holier than thou, rather than which candidate stands for the best policies.

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